U.S. President Donald Trump made an explosive round of remarks in China this week, threatening to go from imposing 200% tariffs on the country to suggesting he may travel to Beijing for a visit sometime in the future.
“They have to give it to us [rare earth] Magnets, if they don’t give us magnets, then we have to charge them 200% tariffs or other fees. ” Tell reporters He met with South Korean President Lee Jae Myung at the White House on Monday.
“But we won’t have problems that I don’t think we don’t,” he added. “No one needs magnets until they convinced everyone to let us all do magnets 20 years ago.”
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China’s landmines account for more than 70% of the world’s rare earths and manufactures 90% of the rare earth magnets necessary to produce electric vehicles, military equipment, electrical appliances and consumer electronics. Magnets are also an important part of all vehicle assembly lines.
Until early June, China had completely stopped exporting all rare earths and magnets to the United States in retaliation for Trump’s then triple-digit tariffs and restricted the export of chips to the country. But their exports to the United States Leaped 660% China has relaxed restrictions.
Speaking to reporters on Monday, the U.S. president also suggested that Washington has greater leverage on China as the U.S. supplies aircraft parts to its major economic rivals. “Their 200 planes can’t fly because we didn’t give them Boeing parts on purpose because they didn’t give us magnets,” he added.
He added: “But one thing we have is tariffs… If we want to propose 100%, 200% tariffs, we will not do anything with China.”
He went on to say, “We will have a lot of magnets in a very short time. Actually, we have a lot of them that we don’t know what to do.”
Trump then said that the United States has good relations with China, and that “Xi Jinping hopes that I will come to China.”
“I recently spoke to your president and at some point, probably this year or soon after, we’ll go to China.”
“We are going to have a good relationship with China. It is happening. You see. It is happening.”
However, he said he had the potential to “destroy China” the “card”.
“They have some cards. We have incredible cards, but I don’t want to play those cards…if I play those cards that will destroy China. I won’t play these cards.”
#watch |Washington, D.C. | “We’re going to have a good relationship with China… They have some cards. We have incredible cards, but I don’t want to play those cards. If I play those cards, it will destroy China. I won’t play those cards,” said U.S. President Donald. pic.twitter.com/pdlnpkmmm2
– ani (@ani) August 25, 2025
China’s reaction
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun when foreign journalists demanded comment on Trump’s 200% tariff without magnet exports Say at regular press conferences On Tuesday, China “cleared” its “position on tariffs many times.”
China has previously stated that “there is no winner in the trade war” and vows to protect its interests when necessary. Chinese President Xi Jinping also calls Trump’s tariffs a strategy Used for “bullying”.
Asked on Trump’s statement about the stronger leverage of the United States over China, Guo said that Beijing “has always handled and promoted China’s relations in accordance with mutual respect, peaceful coexistence and peaceful coexistence and solid protection of its own sovereignty, security and development interests, and in accordance with mutual respect, peaceful coexistence and victory cooperation.”
“We hope that the United States can see us halfway through and jointly promote the stable, healthy and sustainable development of China’s relations,” he said.
When asked about Xi Jinping’s potential visit to China, Guo did not directly respond.
He said: “The diplomacy of the head of state plays an irreplaceable strategic guiding role in China’s relations. The heads of China and the United States maintain close communication and communication.”
The highest Chinese negotiator is heading to us
Trump’s latest statement follows a plan to visit Washington this week by senior Chinese trade negotiator Li Shanggan.
A U.S. government spokesman said on Monday that Lee, the representative of China’s international trade and the main negotiator for his Economic Tsar (TSAR), may meet with deputy U.S. government officials.
This visit is not part of the formal negotiating meeting of ongoing trade negotiations between the two countries. Agree to this month Extend the trade armistice to November. The current tax is 30% of China’s imports to the United States, and China’s responsibility for U.S. goods is 10%.
A source familiar with the negotiations said there was no planned meeting between Lee and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and he did not come at the request of the U.S. side.
Traders on both sides of the Pacific are paying attention to whether this month’s tariff extension will become permanent or whether Trump will once again subvert global supply chains, a wave of highly high tariffs on Chinese imports.
U.S. retailers stock up before a critical year-end holiday season, while Chinese producers (locked to the world’s top consumer economy) say they are in a “survival mode”, scrambling to secure market share elsewhere to stay fluent.
Economists warn that once Trump’s tariffs rank in the top 35%, they’ll become high for Chinese exporters.
Lee’s trip will follow three rounds of trade talks between the two countries since May – in Geneva, London and earlier this month, in Stockholm.
The last time China’s senior trade negotiator visited the United States was in November 2023, when he met with then-U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen in San Francisco, ahead of the 2023 summit held by leaders of Asia-Pacific economic cooperation in the city.
The timing of the visit was particularly embarrassing given the latest comments from the Chinese ambassador in the U.S. on Trump’s trade policy, sources said.
“(US) trade protectionism has put a shadow on China’s agricultural cooperation,” Ambassador Cai Fei said in a speech to the soybean industry event held in Washington on Friday, saying the Trump administration plans to curb plans to “foreign opponents” purchased by “foreign opponents”, including China, “political manipulation.”
- Vishakha Saxena, with Reuters
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